Opinion Archive

I am thankful Santa Rosa County decided to give our children Good Friday off. Contrary to James Hamel letter, it was not considered a religious holiday but simply a non-school day. Perhaps Mr. Hamel would also like to know that it was also a Jewish holiday, Passover.

Since 2006 there have been 110 accidents involving bicycles or pedestrians on U.S. 98 between Navarre and Gulf Breeze. Nineteen of those crashes were fatal.

Opening day for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos is April 9, so be sure to check out their ad for all the daily specials.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is considering several potential new changes to ease traffic flows (east and west) through the historic City of Milton area. One FDOT plan I consider best overall for, functionality, historical preservation, hurricane evacuation, minimal residential disruption, minimal time to modify, and fiscal responsibility (lowest cost), is to build one new bridge across Blackwater River. The new bridge should be the same size as the current Highway 90 bridge, but connecting to Berryhill road.

It takes considerable initiative for citizens to respectfully yet boldly confront lawmakers. It takes courageous leadership for legislators to admit and correct costly blunders. But that’s what happened last week in Florida’s Senate Appropriations Committee. When lamenting the inauspicious beginning of the FSA (the newest iteration of high stakes testing in our schools) I heard senators use phrases like “this is a train wreck” and “we’ve got to get this under control; we’re losing credibility … ”

Start planning your Easter Egg Hunts. Easter is Sunday, April 5, but the hunt for eggs is on! Starting Saturday at 10 a.m., Navarre United Methodist Church will host an Easter Egg Hunt with many other activities and refreshments. On Sunday, the YMCA is having its hunt at 4 p.m. with plenty of other activities.

In the 2014 a non-binding vote on incorporation, the few people who did vote did not know what incorporation would mean for Navarre and their families. To put it simply, Navarre wants to be a self-contained city, not an area outpost.

This week has been a tough week for Navarre, Santa Rosa County, Florida and the nation.  Navarre became the focal point of one of the deadliest domestic military training accidents in recent years. National news crews flew in to report to the country the search and rescue of our finest – which quickly turned to a painful recovery.

As a resident of Navarre, I knew there were many great people who lived and worked here. What I could not know was just how generous and magnanimous this community is. By now, everyone is aware of the loss of 11 brave service members when their Black Hawk crashed in the Sound between Navarre and Eglin Air Force Base. What you may not be aware of is the generosity of the residents and businesses of this great community.

I am a first cousin of Chief Warrant Officer 4 George “David” Strother. He was one of the pilots from the Louisiana National Guard.